Wildlife

The Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo will host its second annual Wildlife Walk and Fitness Safari from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 26. Children will learn how to move like the animals at the zoo while exploring the 25-acre wooded park. All children who complete the 1K circuit will win a free pass to be used later in the summer. Teams can be formed. The team with the highest number of participants wins the right to adopt the animal of the team's choice for a whole year, receive a full-color Adoption Packet and a plaque with the organization's name displayed on the animal's habitat.

Cub Scouts from Pack 108 from Old Forge Elementary School attended a Kid Healthy Ideas Tour at the North Pointe Martin's supermarket April 21. They learned about the food pyramid and healthy choices for a balanced diet. On April 18, the Cubs from Pack 108 visited Trego Mountain Sanctuary in southern Washington County. They learned about rehabilation of wildlife and conveservation of natural resources.

The Washington County Planning Commission on Monday tabled a site plan for a wildlife preserve on 137 acres off Maryland 66 and U.S. 40. A wildlife preserve is defined by the state as a regulated shooting area, associate planner Jill Baker told the Planning Commission. Joseph Michael of Boonsboro submitted the site plan for the wildlife preserve, according to a county document. Baker said the preserve would operate from October through March 31. She said the preserve would be a place where birds would be hauled in, released and shot.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- Jamie Flickinger, regional wildlife diversity biologist with the Pennsylvania Game Commission will discuss creating habitat for songbirds, grouse, wild turkey and woodcocks at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 8, at Franklin County Extension Office, 181 Franklin Farm Lane. The meeting is sponsored by the Cumberland Woodland Owners Association. The lecture is free and open to the public. For information, call Fred Peabody at 717-776-3565 or e-mail fredp5@earthlink.net . For directions, call 717-263-9226.

When the world seems to be whirring with tele-everything, here's a way to escape: take a close look at Nature. Hundreds of varied, colorful creatures can be seen without traveling far at all. Find a space, or make one in your own corner of the world, where plants, flowers and insects pursue their non-automated lives and nothing has to be plugged in to work. Of course grass - that monotonously green stuff - seems to be everywhere, followed by buzzing and roaring machines, lavish applications of chemicals, and an excess of the insects that thrive on grass because there's lots of it. While your community may favor well-groomed lawns, you can still strike a balance between nature and neighbors by mixing in plants and bushes that attract birds and insects to your area.

HAGERSTOWN - The Humane Society of Washington County will stop capturing sick and injured wildlife in the City of Hagerstown effective Oct. 1, 2008. Paul Miller, the humane society's executive director, wrote in a Sept. 9 e-mail to Hagerstown Police Chief Arthur Smith that the humane society does not have adequate staff or funding to continue responding to wildlife calls. Although Miller did not return two telephone messages seeking comment on Wednesday, the e-mail said the city should consider contracting with a private company or working with county officials to find a solution.

CLEAR SPRING - Brett Hendershot, a 2008 graduate of Clear Spring High School, is the recipient of a $1,000 scholarship from the Tri-State Farm Toy Collectors Club. The scholarship is awarded annually to a student in the Tri-State area who plans to study agriculture, natural resources or in any other agriculture-related field. Hendershot will be attending Garrett Community College in McHenry, Md., pursuing a degree in wildlife technology and wildlife management.

BLUE RIDGE SUMMIT, Pa. - A Pennsylvania Game Commission wildlife officer has issued a summons against a Blue Ridge Summit man for allegedly shooting a black bear that wandered into his yard, according to records in District Justice Larry Pentz's office Friday. The incident occurred April 6. Terry Ray Green Sr., 40, of 14619 Charmian Road is being charged with killing game or wildlife to protect a person, according to the summons issued by Kevin Mountz, a state wildlife commission officer.

HAGERSTOWN ? Hunting could be open to the public by the end of this bow season on about 211 acres of land just south of the Four Locks area in western Washington County, a state wildlife official said. Jim Mullan, western region wildlife manager for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, said state officials are considering several ways to use the land, which is known as The Neck by local residents. Hunting would control the deer population and prevent the animals from eating rare plant species on the property, he said.

HAGERSTOWN The Humane Society of Washington County will stop capturing sick and injured wildlife in the City of Hagerstown effective Oct. 1, 2008. Paul Miller, the humane society's executive director, wrote in a Sept. 9 e-mail to Hagerstown Police Chief Arthur Smith that the humane society does not have adequate staff or funding to continue responding to wildlife calls. Although Miller did not return two telephone messages seeking comment on Wednesday, the e-mail said the city should consider contracting with a private company or working with county officials to find a solution.

The Antietam Creek Watershed Alliance will host the following speakers at Funkstown Town Hall, 30 E. Baltimore St. The events are free and open to the public: • Thursday, May 16  - “Recreational Fishing Opportunities on the Antietam;” learn about fishing by wading or by boat on Antietam Creek; presented by Mike Dudash, environmental educator from River and Trail Outfitters; 7 p.m. • Thursday, June 13 - “Becoming Bay-Wise: Creating Healthy,...

Growing up in Clear Spring, biologist Kim Dryden's childhood seems almost like a Disney nature movie. Her father and grandfather both worked for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, which gave her an unusual exposure to wildlife. "I remember one January someone showed up with a grebe," Dryden, 54, recalls during a telephone interview from her Naples, Fla., home. A grebe is a waterfowl. They are diving birds. Or as Dryden said, "it's basically like a mean, big duck.

The Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo will host its second annual Wildlife Walk and Fitness Safari from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 26. Children will learn how to move like the animals at the zoo while exploring the 25-acre wooded park. All children who complete the 1K circuit will win a free pass to be used later in the summer. Teams can be formed. The team with the highest number of participants wins the right to adopt the animal of the team's choice for a whole year, receive a full-color Adoption Packet and a plaque with the organization's name displayed on the animal's habitat.

Janet McKegg was born in 1954 in Washington County General Hospital and spent the first 18 years of her life in Pleasant Valley, about 10 miles south of Boonsboro. She loved nature and its creatures from her earliest years, and also loved horses from the first time she saw one, getting astride a draft horse before she was 2. She attended the University of Maryland at College Park, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in wildlife biology. She began her 28-year career with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources as a ticket taker at Cunningham Falls State Park and progressed from that to becoming the DNR's first woman wildlife biologist.

Members of the community are invited to apply by Feb. 10 to become Maryland Woodland Stewards, a program of University of Maryland Extension. The training process teaches participants how sound woodland management practices can be used to make wildlife healthier, more diverse and abundant, while enhancing other forest benefits. Each year, a select group of 25 woodland owners, managers and/or environmentally concerned citizens are chosen from applicants to participate in a 3 1/2-day seminar that emphasizes education through demonstration.

A confirmed case of epizootic hemorrhagic disease was discovered in a white-tailed deer in the Williamsport area in late summer, and other cases have been reported in the Clear Spring area, according to a Maryland Department of Natural Resources official. Brian Eyler, deer project leader for the DNR, said he's not concerned about the disease, which does not affect humans, but the agency will continue to monitor it. The part of the deer population that isn't genetically resistant to hemorrhagic disease will bounce back, he said.

A hearing to suppress statements made to police by a man charged with the murder of Pennsylvania Wildlife Conservation Officer David Grove concluded this week, but a ruling on defense motions is several weeks away, District Attorney Shawn Wagner said. Christopher Lynn Johnson, 28, of Fairfield, Pa., is charged with first-degree murder and faces a possible death penalty if convicted of the Nov. 11, 2010, shooting death of Grove, 31, of Fairfield. Assistant Public Defender Kristin Rice has filed a motion to suppress Johnson's statements to police following his arrest on Nov. 12, as well as a motion to have the trial moved to another county, or have a jury brought in from another jurisdiction to hear the case.

Plumes of diesel exhaust billowing out of the stacks of a Mack truck is a "picture that belongs in the history books," David Perkins of the United Auto Workers said Thursday during a teleconference. The union president of Local 171 at Volvo Powertrain in Hagerstown was taking part in the National Wildlife Federation teleconference to tout the benefits of new federal fuel-efficiency standards. Newer engine technologies mean more power and torque produced with less fuel and fewer emissions, Perkins said.

On a whim last week, my boyfriend and I took his 7-year-old son and my daughter on a day trip to Lake Tobias Wildlife Park in Halifax, Pa. Neither he or I were familiar with the park, but it came highly recommended by a co-worker of his. I had been searching for a large petting zoo within commuting distance to take my daughter to, and this park just northeast of Harrisburg, Pa., seemed to fit the bill. The park offered “safari tours” through 150 acres of mostly grassland, home to herds of animals from around the world.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett on Thursday signed legislation naming an Adams County, Pa., bridge for David L. Grove, a wildlife conservation officer killed in the line of duty in November 2010. Grove, 31, was a graduate of Grace Academy in Hagerstown and lived in Waynesboro, Pa., before moving to Fairfield, Pa. Corbett signed House Bill 1255, naming a bridge crossing Marsh Creek on Business Route 15 joining Freedom and Cumberland townships in Adams County. The bridge is now the Wildlife Conservation Officer David L. Grove Memorial Bridge.